Drill bits and holesaws

[dmaher]

Well need to invest in a set of decent drill bits. The no name chinese set I had to tide me over is useless, seem to snap rather easily and most of the others are blunt.

Been very impressed with viper bits in mild steel. Was talking to a guy at the fasteners shop and the cobalts are brilliant but insanely expensive and not really needed unless regularly drilling stainless or hardened metals. He was saying around 3 times as expensive.

From memory I've only probably needed a cobalt once where I had to drill out a stainless screw.

So I was thinking I can afford to either go through 3 sets of vipers or just go cobalt if and when needed.

So I was thinking of getting a set of vipers in metric in 1-10 0.5mm increments and the same set for imperial... don't know the imperial sizes, don't like imperial, never have. But still want the bits on hand when using imperial fasteners.

Mostly they're going to be used on plastic, aluminium and mild steel.

Was thinking of possibly getting some decentish brad points for wood but that'll be further down the track.

Secondly I'm after some holesaws, I've found a stuffed reload set that I can use the reload attachments from. Still need new holesaws though. Anyone have any recommendations?

Same sort of materials as the drill bits. Starretts I've used at work seemed to go blunt quite quickly, then again we didn't have any cutting oil at hand. :doh:

Sutton pretty good again ?

[Gavin Newman]

Well need to invest in a set of decent drill bits. The no name chinese set I had to tide me over is useless, seem to snap rather easily and most of the others are blunt.

Been very impressed with viper bits in mild steel. Was talking to a guy at the fasteners shop and the cobalts are brilliant but insanely expensive and not really needed unless regularly drilling stainless or hardened metals. He was saying around 3 times as expensive.

From memory I've only probably needed a cobalt once where I had to drill out a stainless screw.

So I was thinking I can afford to either go through 3 sets of vipers or just go cobalt if and when needed.

So I was thinking of getting a set of vipers in metric in 1-10 0.5mm increments and the same set for imperial... don't know the imperial sizes, don't like imperial, never have. But still want the bits on hand when using imperial fasteners.

Mostly they're going to be used on plastic, aluminium and mild steel.

Was thinking of possibly getting some decentish brad points for wood but that'll be further down the track.

Secondly I'm after some holesaws, I've found a stuffed reload set that I can use the reload attachments from. Still need new holesaws though. Anyone have any recommendations?

Same sort of materials as the drill bits. Starretts I've used at work seemed to go blunt quite quickly, then again we didn't have any cutting oil at hand. :doh:

Sutton pretty good again ?

Suttons, P&N are good, I've had a good run out of the Bordo brand sets I've bought as well. I'd recommend going for the 1 to 13 in 0.5 rests rather than stopping at 10mm. In imperial do the equivalent, 1/16" to 1/2" in 1/16" rests.

Your thoughts re the cobalt drills reflect mine, I use the normal drills for 90% of the work and resharpen then as required, I have a few cobalts and they are reserved for stainless and the sizes are bought as required.

You may also want to consider a few stub drills, especially in the most used sizes for tapping, as they will have less wander than the jobber drills.

With holesaws, I've started using the Bordo and they seem to be quite good.

[rogerbaker]

I agree with Gavin regarding drills.
What are you going to use the holesaws for? If you are using them on metal get either tungsten tipped saws or solid tungsten. I have a set of solid tungsten saws that have done more than 2000 holes in steel without needing to be sharpened. They are expensive but work out cheaper if you are going to use them a lot.

Roger

[antoni]

Hi all
drill bits viper are very good when new but after resharpen do not last long .
They go soft the old P&N I get more resharpens out of a bit.
Tony

[Stustoys]

Are you using them in a pistol drill?
Depending on why you are breaking drills and what you are doing with them, maybe stay with the no name Chinese set but replace the ones you break with Sutton drills from a bulk pack? If you are like me there will be some sizes you use all the time and other sizes you almost never use.
Viper is a way of sharpening the point, which you can't easily repeat at home. So once you sharpen the drill its gone.
Stuart

[dmaher]

I agree with Gavin regarding drills.
What are you going to use the holesaws for? If you are using them on metal get either tungsten tipped saws or solid tungsten. I have a set of solid tungsten saws that have done more than 2000 holes in steel without needing to be sharpened. They are expensive but work out cheaper if you are going to use them a lot.

Roger

Usually just use HSS holesaws but they mostly get used on plastic or fairly thick aluminium or mild steel. Occasionally wood or gyprock.

That may be an idea... might pick some up next time.


Are you using them in a pistol drill?
Depending on why you are breaking drills and what you are doing with them, maybe stay with the no name Chinese set but replace the ones you break with Sutton drills from a bulk pack? If you are like me there will be some sizes you use all the time and other sizes you almost never use.
Viper is a way of sharpening the point, which you can't easily repeat at home. So once you sharpen the drill its gone.
Stuart

Cordless 90% of the time.

Well the smaller sizes seem to be extremely brittle and snap easily from a bit of force on the drill or flexing.

Problem is typically with my job is often you're already on site when you find out what size you need. Last time my work mate and I were on site and found out we had to drill an I beam, we didn't think ahead and so didn't have a decent drill bit big enough so I pulled out the chinese set and promptly made half of them blunt trying to drill out a hole big enough... they were that useless.

So I just want a set that won't blunt easily I can just pick from as needed.

Can you get the viper bits sharpened professionally or do you have to replace them more or less ?

Some Sutton black oxide HSS (blue bullet) bits I used didn't seem as good.

[Stustoys]

Some brands seem to be more brittle than others, I've used frost drills that felt like they snapped like carrots. But that was in pistol drills, they may have stayed sharper longer than other drills in a pillar drill.

Drilling I beam can be hard work.

I doubt you can get viper points sharpened but I could be wrong.

"Some Sutton black oxide HSS (blue bullet) bits I used didn't seem as good. "
Don't seem to be as good how? They will need more pressure to drill the hole because the point is different to the viper. The viper will be more likely to self feed in some materials.

But if I was using them for wokring for a living I'd start with a set of vipers and see how they went.

Stuart